2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season (Syryquil)
The 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season was hyperactive and very destructive. It caused at least $124.6 billion in damages, making it the 4th most damaging Atlantic hurricane season. It was one of 7 years to feature multiple Category 5 systems. The season officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30. However, Hurricane Andrea formed before the official start. The season featured Hurricane Fernand, which broke the record for most easternmost forming hurricane, which was previously held by Tropical Storm Christine of 1973. It also contained Hurricane Olga which moved in an almost unheard of west to east motion. The only similar system was Hurricane Lenny of 1999. The season also had the second example of a PTC failing to form, causing some controversy. The most destructive hurricanes this season were Hurricane Gabrielle, Tropical Storm Lorenzo, and Hurricane Nestor, with all 3 doing over 1 billion in damages. Nestor was the worst storm to landfall in the Carolinas since Hurricane Hugo. Gabrielle hit a minimum central pressure of 903, making it the 8th most powerful hurricane in the Atlantic since records began, and the most powerful in the basin since Wilma. Another deadly and destructive hurricane this season was Hurricane Fernand. These 4 storms were retired due to their impacts. Season Timeline ImageSize = width:800 height:200 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:20 left:20 Legend = columns:3 left:30 top:58 columnwidth:230 AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/05/2016 till:31/12/2016 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/06/2016 Colors = id:canvas value:gray(0.88) id:GP value:red id:TD value:rgb(0.38,0.73,1) legend:Tropical_Depression_=_≤39_mph id:TS value:rgb(0,0.98,0.96) legend:Tropical_Storm_=_39–73_mph id:C1 value:rgb(1,1,0.80) legend:Category_1_=_74–95_mph id:C2 value:rgb(1,0.91,0.46) legend:Category_2_=_96–110_mph id:C3 value:rgb(1,0.76,0.25) legend:Category_3_=_111–129_mph id:C4 value:rgb(1,0.56,0.13) legend:Category_4_=_130–156_mph id:C5 value:rgb(1,0.38,0.38) legend:Category_5_=_≥157_mph Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Hurricane bar:Month PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till From:28/05/2016 till:31/05/2016 color:C1 text:"Andrea (C1)" From:07/06/2016 till:10/06/2016 color:C1 text:"Barry (C1)" From:15/06/2016 till:17/06/2016 color:TS text:"Chantal (TS)" From:12/07/2016 till:14/07/2016 color:TS text:"Dorian (STS)" From:28/07/2016 till:08/08/2016 color:C1 text:"Erin (C1)" From:06/08/2016 till:21/08/2016 color:C3 text:"Fernand (C3)" From:17/08/2016 till:07/09/2016 color:C5 text:"Gabrielle (C5)" barset:break From:20/08/2016 till:20/08/2016 color:TS text:"Humberto (TS)" From:23/08/2016 till:28/08/2016 color:C3 text:"Imelda (C3)" From:29/08/2016 till:07/09/2016 color:C2 text:"Jerry (C2)" From:02/09/2016 till:03/09/2016 color:TS text:"Unnamed (TS)" From:08/09/2016 till:12/09/2016 color:C2 text:"Karen (C2)" From:10/09/2016 till:13/09/2016 color:TS text:"Lorenzo (TS)" barset:break From:18/09/2016 till:28/09/2016 color:C3 text:"Melissa (C3)" From:20/09/2016 till:22/09/2016 color:TD text:"Fifteen(TD)" From:02/10/2016 till:11/10/2016 color:C5 text:"Nestor (C5)" From:09/10/2016 till:13/10/2016 color:C2 text:"Olga (C2)" From:20/10/2016 till:25/10/2016 color:C1 text:"Pablo (C1)" From:09/11/2016 till:12/11/2016 color:TS text:"Tico(TS)" bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/05/2016 till:01/06/2016 text:May from:01/06/2016 till:01/07/2016 text:June from:01/07/2016 till:01/08/2016 text:July from:01/08/2016 till:01/09/2016 text:August from:01/09/2016 till:01/10/2016 text:September from:01/10/2016 till:01/11/2016 text:October from:01/11/2016 till:01/12/2016 text:November from:01/12/2016 till:31/12/2016 text:December TextData = pos:(490,24) text:"(From the" pos:(538,24) text:"Saffir-Simpson Scale)" Systems Hurricane Andrea Hurricane Andrea formed, and intensified due to unusually high SSTs, with anomalies in the area in excess of +1 degree Celsius. Hurricane Andrea was designated PTC 1 in concert with tropical storm warnings issued for Western Cuba. Despite not making landfall in Cuba, the island still felt tropical storm force winds. It intensified to a hurricane before it made landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida as a Category One hurricane. It caused 13 fatalities (3 indirect). Most of these deaths were in Florida, while 3 were from its rainfall in South Carolina. One person also died in North Carolina when rain caused a tree to fall on his house, crushing him. It caused $550 million in damages. Hurricane Barry Barry was helped by the same SSTs that contributed to Andrea's intensification. Hurricane Barry made Landfall south of Lafayette, Louisiana, after forming in the Bay of Campeche. It killed 5 people, 3 of these died in a car that hydroplaned into a tree due to rain associated with Barry. Another fatality was from flooding in Tennessee due to Barry's extratropical remnants. Barry caused $600 million in damages. Tropical Storm Chantal Tropical Storm Chantal was a slow moving tropical storm that formed off of a front moving down. The front spawned an elongated area of low pressure that was able to organize itself in its limited time over the water. The system moved very slowly due to weak steering currents. It caused flooding in parts of Mississippi and Alabama. Due to the flooding, it killed 3 and injured several more, and caused 300 million in damages Subtropical Storm Dorian Subtropical Storm Dorian formed off the coast of Florida and Georgia. It caused light to moderate rainfall in North Florida, and Coastal Georgia and South Carolina. No deaths were reported, though someone was injured when they slipped on a wet walkway in Coastal Georgia. Hurricane Erin Hurricane Erin formed from a strong tropical wave east of the Lesser Antilles. At first the system had trouble organizing due to an excess of dry air in the area. It made 2 landfalls, one in Martinique as a Depression and one in Puerto Rico as a tropical storm. Soon, Erin got its act together, and Erin peaked as a minimal hurricane between Bermuda and the Carolinas. Due to Puerto Rico being heavily damaged by previous hurricanes, including Maria of 2017, the flooding brought by Erin caused power outages over portions of the island. This exacerbated an already serious heat wave being experienced by the island. Erin caused 4 deaths and $200 million in damages. Hurricane Fernand Hurricane Fernand was the first major hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It is the easternmost forming system in the Atlantic Basin, taking the record from Christine of 1973. It formed as a Tropical Depression over the country of Guinea, possibly due to the brown ocean effect. It then tracked west, peaking as a Category 3. It then started to weaken due to wind shear, but it still made a Category 2 landfall in Dominica, causing widespread devastation across the island. It caused 35 deaths (3 indirect) and $700 million of damages on the island. It then grazed Puerto Rico as a Tropical Storm, causing 1 death and $50 million in damages. Hurricane Gabrielle Hurricane Gabrielle was a very long lived Category 5 hurricane, and the strongest tropical system worldwide in 2019. It was also the 6th longest lasting hurricane in the Atlantic basin recorded. A tropical wave left the coast of Africa, and after failing to consolidate at first, a center of circulation soon developed WSW of the Cape Verde islands. It began to rapidly intensify, and reached Category 5 strength, before passing extremely close to Guadeloupe. It caused 22 deaths and $300 million in damages there. It passed south of Puerto Rico, but still caused hurricane force winds throughout the southern part of the island, causing 2 deaths there. It then tracked towards Jamaica as a Category 4, becoming one of the worst hurricanes in recorded history to make landfall there, comparable to Hurricane Gilbert in its intensity. It caused 53 deaths (11 indirect) and $800 million in damages (this number is debated, with some estimates as high as $3 billion). It then made landfall on the Yucatan as a Category 4, causing 28 more deaths (5 indirect). After leaving Mexico, it restrengthened to Category 5, developed a pinhole eye and hit its peak intensity of 903mb. It ties for the strongest wind speeds in the Atlantic basin with Hurricane Allen of 190mph. Continuing its northward path, it weakened to a Category 3 before making landfall in Louisiana southwest of New Orleans. It caused extreme flooding and wind damage here, leading to 37 more deaths (2 indirect), and $20 billion in damages. This is a total of 142 fatalities. Tropical Storm Humberto Tropical Storm Humberto was a very short lived system. The NHC began tracking a possible area of development in the Bay of Campeche, and soon it was designated PTC 8. It developed into a tropical depression, and quickly strengthened into a tropical storm. However it then made landfall as a minimal tropical storm about 8 hours later, before it had a chance to strengthen much more. It caused 1 fatality. The amount of damage done is unknown. Hurricane Imelda Hurricane Imelda was a major hurricane. It formed off the northern coast of Haiti from a tropical wave, and brought minor flooding to the island. The southern half of the wave was expected to form, and was designated PTC 9, but PTC 9 was unable to form a center of circulation. Imelda was therefore designated a Tropical Depression 10 when it first formed. It continued northeast of the Bahamas, however, due to shear most of the convection was on the eastern side of the circulation, so hardly any damage was done. The shear soon lightened up, allowing the system to hit Category 3. One person was killed swimming in North Carolina due to high surf. It caused $100 million in damages. Hurricane Jerry Hurricane Jerry formed from a tropical wave east of the Lesser Antilles. It slowly intensified as it arced WNW, hitting a peak as a Category 2 hurricane. Dry air intrusion kept it from getting stronger despite the high sea surface temperatures. At first it was forecast to hit Bermuda, but it curved out to sea and dissipated far east of Nova Scotia. Unnamed Tropical Storm A Tropical Storm formed in the open Atlantic, but the NHC did not issue advisories for the system. The system was only noticed in the season's post-analysis. No ASCAT passes covered it during its life, and it was unknown if the circulation was closed at the time, so the NHC decided not to issue advisories on the system. It was a short lived system that never threatened any land. Hurricane Karen Hurricane Karen formed in the Gulf of Mexico, despite the moderate shear at the time. This kept it from intensifying much further despite the very above average SSTs present at the time. Hurricane Karen made landfall near Port o' Connor, Texas as a Category 2. Due to the models being unusually accurate from up to 8 days before landfall with this storm, people were extremely prepared, and it only caused 3 fatalities. It also caused $300 million in damages. Tropical Storm Lorenzo PTC 13 was designated to establish tropical storm watches for the Gulf Coast of Florida. Tropical Storm Lorenzo soon formed just north of the Florida Keys, and started to move north. It made landfall on the Florida panhandle and stalled out, causing historic flooding throughout the area, with some places getting 15 inches or more. It killed 34 people (4 indirect), and caused $6 billion in damages. It was noteworthy for causing the collapse of the John Gorrie Memorial Bridge in Apalachicola. Hurricane Melissa Hurricane Melissa formed northeast of Barbuda. It slowly strengthened as it headed steadily NNW, and then began weakening as it curved away from the Americas, dissipating far north of the Azores. The cyclone never threatened land beyond bringing no more than an inch of rainfall to the northern Leeward Islands. Tropical Depression Fifteen Tropical Depression Fifteen caused some minor flooding across parts of Central America. The depression was hampered by high shear, keeping it from intensifying much. It caused $50 thousand in damages. Hurricane Nestor Hurricane Nestor was a destructive Category 5 hurricane. It caused 104 fatalities, most from the Florida Keys and the Carolinas. It formed east of the Yucatan Peninsula, and began tracking north, rapidly intensifying. It soon reached category 3 status, before making landfall in Western Cuba, causing 4 deaths. It weakened to Category one, but rapidly intensified back up to 3. Soon it turned east, Tracking along the Florida Keys causing extreme storm surge in excess of 12 feet, and rainfall of 9 inches recorded on Duck Key. It was the most impactful hurricane to hit the keys since at least Hurricane Betsy. The storm then turned north, and intensified to a Category 5 hurricane, scraping the Bahamas. It then began to turn Northeastward, scraping the Carolina coast, and causing serious coastal and inland flooding there. It made landfall on the Outer Banks as a category 3, before turning out to sea and slowly weakening. It caused 104 deaths (8 indirect) on the US. It caused a total of $100 billion of damages from all of its impacted locations. Hurricane Olga Hurricane Olga spawned south of Jamaica from an area of low pressure that previously meandered around Nicaragua, causing moderate flooding. It then took an extremely rare west to east track, similar to Hurricane Lenny. It peaked as a Category 2, and dissipated before affecting the Antilles. Hurricane Pablo Hurricane Pablo formed North of Puerto Rico. The storm slowly intensified to a Category 1, before shear increased and it dissipated. It never threatened land in its lifetime. Tropical Storm Tico Tropical Storm Tico formed in the Eastern Pacific, and was a rare Pacific-Atlantic crossover hurricane. It caused moderate flooding in Central America, causing 3 deaths, and $1 million in damages. It strengthened to a minimal tropical storm, before dissipating south of Jamaica. Other Systems PTC 9 was expected to form from the same Tropical Wave that spawned Imelda, and was associated with warnings issued for the Lesser Antilles; however, PTC 9 could not establish a center of circulation. Despite this, it still produced gale force winds for some of the islands. Storm names The following names were used to name tropical and subtropical cyclones in the 2019 season. This is the same list used in the 2013 season except for Imelda, which replaced Ingrid. Retirement The names Fernand, Gabrielle, Lorenzo, Nestor were retired this season, to be replaced with Flynn, Gina, Lucas, and Neil respectively. Category:Atlantic hurricane seasons Category:Future hurricane seasons Category:Future Atlantic Seasons